Snakes
| image = | kingdom = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | class = Reptilia | order = Squamata | family = Varanoidea | genus = | notable appearances = Anaconda; Boa vs. Python; King Cobra; Python; Snakes; Snakes on a Plane; Ssssss; Venom | 1st appearance = }} Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with many more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws. To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica and on most islands. Fifteen families are currently recognized, comprising 456 genera and over 2,900 species. Snakes in media One of the earliest grindhouse-era films to focus on snakes was the 1973 film Ssssss. In the film, Strother Martin plays an ophiologist who has mastered the art of snake-charming. He creates a serum that slowly begins transforming a young college student named David Blake (played by future Battlestar Galactica star Dirk Benedict) into a living snake-man. The following year, World Wide Films Corp released Snakes, identified in some markets under the title Fangs. The antagonist of the film, Snakey Bender, is a vindictive snake wrangler who uses his pet snakes to take his revenge against those who have wronged him. In 1981, Piers Haggard directed a movie called Venom. Set in London, England, the plot revolves around a black mamba that is set loose inside a wealthy family's home. The snake used in this film was from the London Zoo. It's trainer was David Ball, the London Zoo's overseer of reptiles. A single snake was seen in the 1980 film Friday the 13th, in which one of the characters dismembers it with a machete. The scene is notable for the fact that an actual snake was used and killed to film the scene - a practice that would never be allowed in modern filmmaking. It could be argued that 1997 was the "Year of the Snake", owing largely to the release of Luis Llosa's all-star cast film Anaconda, which featured several notable actors including Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz and Jon Voight. Although not being well received, the film was a success at the box office debuting at number #1, where it remained for 2 consecutive weeks. The success of Anaconda not only launched a franchise comprising of two sequels, but also created a sub-genre of "killer snake" movies that flooded the direct-to-video market throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. Many of these films were "Sci-fi original pictures", produced and broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy). In the "Animal Pragmatism" episode of Charmed, three amateur witches named Tessa, Andrea and Brooke conducted a spell to transform a pig, a snake and a rabbit into three well-built attractive men. Snakes were the central antagonist of the 2006 action movie Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L. Jackson as Federal agent Neville Flynn. As the title suggests, Jackson's character is trapped aboard a Boeing 747 bound for Los Angeles when a crate filled with venomous snakes is released and begins attacking passengers on the plane. More than 450 different snakes were used in the production of the film including a boa constrictor and a Burmese python. That same year, a knockoff film, capitalizing on the popularity of Snakes on a Plane entitled Snakes on a Train was released direct-to-video. Directed by Peter Mervis, the film boasted the tagline 100 Trapped Passengers.. 2,000 Venomous Vipers! The movie's protagonist, Alma (Julia Ruiz) is placed under a Mayan curse and becomes a living hatchery for dozens of poisonous snakes that infest a passenger train bound for Los Angeles. On the "Tattoo" episode of Friday the 13th: The Series, a young man named Tommy Chen had multiple tattoos that could come to life to to do his bidding; one of which was a snake, which took form and killed a person. In Freddy vs. Jason, mental patient Mark Davis has a nightmare wherein Freddy Krueger torments him with various stark visuals, including a pool of snakes at his feet. Species of snakes Anacondas The Anaconda is a large, non-venomous snake found in tropical South America. They are found mostly in water, such as the Amazon River. Although the name actually applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species in particular, the common or green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, which is one of the largest snakes in the world. An exceptionally large anaconda was the focus of the 1997 adventure/horror film, Anaconda. In the film, a documentary film crew, led by a director named Terri Flores, hire a boat to take them down the Amazon River so they can research an allegedly lost Indian tribe called the Shirishamas. The don't find any Shirishamas, but what they do find is a giant-ass CGI anaconda snake that attacks the boat and proceeds to swallow its contents whole. Black mambas The Black mamba is the longest venomous snake in Africa, averaging around 2.5 meters (8.2 ft), and sometimes growing up to 4.3 meters (14 ft). Its name is derived from the black coloration inside the mouth; the actual color of the skin varies, from dull yellowish-green to a gun-metal gray. It is the fastest snake in the world, capable of moving at 4.5 to 5.4 metres per second. In 1981, Piers Haggard directed a movie called Venom. Set in London, England, the plot revolved around a black mamba snake that had been set loose inside a wealthy family's home. The snake continuously attacked a group of industrial terrorists who had kidnapped the family's son for their own ends. The snake used in this film was from the London Zoo. It's trainer was David Ball, the London Zoo's overseer of reptiles. Boa constrictors The Boa constrictor is a large, heavy-bodied species of snake. It is a member of the Boidae family found in Central America, South America and some islands in the Caribbean. A staple of private collections and public displays, its color pattern is highly variable yet distinctive. Cobras A Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra de capelo or cobra-de-capelo, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake". Pythons A python is a genus of non-venomous pythons found in Africa, Asia and Australia. Currently, 17 species are recognized. Found in Africa in the tropics south of the Sahara, but not in southern Africa, the extreme southwestern tip, or in Madagascar. In Asia it is found from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, including the Nicobar Islands, through Myanmar, east to Indochina, southern China, Hong Kong and Hainan, as well as in the Malayan region of Indonesia and the Philippines. Rattlesnakes Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes, genera Crotalus and Sistrurus. They belong to the subfamily of venomous snakes known as Crotalinae (pit vipers). Rattlesnakes consume mice, rats, small birds and other small animals2. They subdue their prey quickly with a venomous bite as opposed to constricting. The venom will immediately stun or kill typical prey. References ----